


Bad Man George

by ibelieveinguardianangels



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Family, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:28:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26500111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibelieveinguardianangels/pseuds/ibelieveinguardianangels
Summary: "Daddy tried to help mommy. And I've been very mean to daddy." JJ helps both Jack and Hotch come to terms with Haley's death. Set after JJ is transferred to the Pentagon. One-Shot. Complete.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Bad Man George

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Fanfiction.net on July 18, 2020.  
> I always thought that more of Jack and Hotch dealing with the aftermath of Haley’s death should have been shown on the show. This is my take on that.   
> Thank you for reading.   
> I hope you enjoy it.   
> Sorry for any mistakes.

JJ knew the second she walked through the door that this wasn’t a cut and dry baby-sitting gig. The atmosphere in the Hotchner household was so tense JJ could cut it with a knife, and she could hear terse voices coming from the general direction of the kitchen. Clearly Hotch and his son were in the middle of an argument.

Suddenly grateful for the spare key Hotch had given her, JJ followed the voices to the dining area. In lieu of knocking, JJ cleared her throat to make her presence known and was greeted with a look of relief from the older Hotchner and a trademark Hotchner glare from the little boy.

She heard Hotch breathe her name, a gush of expelled air, and for a brief second his tight shoulders relaxed. Until the littlest Hotchner spat at her to go away and took off for his bedroom, that was. 

“Jack!” Aaron called in what was clearly a half hearted reprimand. If the bags beneath his eyes were any indication, he’d clearly had a rough night.

“It’s okay.” JJ interrupted. “It’s okay. Let him go.”

She waited for a moment until Hotch rose to his feet from his position on one knee on the dining room floor.

“I’m sorry, JJ.” He let out a defeated sigh. “He’s…”  
  


Hotch let the sentence trail off and JJ nodded. She couldn’t help but notice his trembling hands as he gathered his belongings.

When he reached the door JJ watched as he attempted to open it, unable to steady his hands long enough to put the key in the lock. Stepping up behind him, she placed a hand on his shoulder. He physically deflated under her touch, turning to face her and hanging his head.

“What’s going on, Aaron?” JJ asked. A moment passed and JJ wondered if Hotch was going to answer.

Finally he lifted his head, catching her eyes with his own red, watery ones.

“His mom’s dead, JJ. And he’s blaming me for it.”

“Aaron-,”

“I’m supposed to catch the bad guys, JJ. And the bad guy killed his mom. So I failed.”

She heard his voice crack with emotion and gently squeezed his upper arm.

“He doesn’t understand, Aaron. He’s just a little boy.”

“He understands that I failed to do my job and now his mom is never coming back. He understands that Haley’s death is my fault.”

Aaron was on the brink of tears. He worried his bottom lip between his teeth, rolling his eyes in what she assumed was an attempt to fight them back. JJ hesitated for a moment, unsure whether she was making the correct decision or not and then threw caution to the wind and embraced Aaron, expecting him to resist.

He didn’t hug back. But he didn’t fight her either, so JJ accepted it as an accomplishment.

“Aaron, go sit down.”

Hotch shook his head. “I have to work, JJ.”

She folded her arms over her chest, adopting the body language she used when Henry was refusing to do as he was told. “I’ll text them team. They can catch you up on the plane. Sit down, please.”

He did as he was told, JJ following him into the living room. She crouched down in front of him, her hands resting on his knees as she looked up at him.

“Jack’s just a little boy. He doesn’t understand.” Aaron shook his head, but this time he didn’t argue back. “He’s acting out because he’s hurting. And he’s blaming the parent that survived because he’s trying to make sense of what happened.”

“He’s right.”

JJ shook her head.

“He _is_ , JJ.” A tear fell down Aaron’s cheek and he swiped angrily at it with the back of his hand. “Haley died because I didn’t do my job. I should have stayed with the case all those years ago.”

“You _did_ , Aaron. You said yourself, Shaunessy sent you away but you continued to come back to the case. You continued to work on the profile. And because of that we caught him. It just didn’t occur to us to request he be sent to a prison out of state.”

“It should have!” 

“Why? It didn’t occur to any of us, Aaron. We all overlooked it. Not just you.”

Hotch let out a sob, and JJ reached out to take one of his hands and give it a reassuring squeeze.

“It’s not as though you got off easy, is it? You had to give up your son, your family. You were stabbed, assaulted in your own home. Your life has been turned upside down, just like Jack’s. But Jack is too little to understand. He thinks he went on holiday with his mommy. He’s too little to be told the truth.”

Aaron let out a heartbroken sob, tearing his hand from her hold so he could cover his face with them. JJ rose to sit on the sofa beside him, instantly wrapping her arms around him and holding his head to her chest.

She held him as he sobbed. She knew he was attempting to stifle them, trying to keep quiet so Jack didn’t hear.

When his sobbing began to die down, JJ ordered him to take a moment to compose himself. Then, she said, he was to take himself to his bedroom and lie down. He opened his mouth to argue, and JJ shook her head. “I’ll get in touch with the team, and I’ll tell them you’re ill. You’ll join them as soon as you’re feeling better.”

“JJ, II can work-,”

“No.” She interrupted firmly. “You are in no fit state to work. Your emotional and mental health is just as important as your physical health, and if any one of us was nearly as upset as you are, there’s no way you’d let us work. Go to bed. Even if you can’t sleep, you can try and rest.”

She waited until he nodded, then slowly stood.

“Are you going to be okay on your own? I’d like to check on Jack.”

As Aaron nodded and dragged himself off to his bedroom, JJ made her way to Jack’s.

After knocking and entering, she found the small child curled up in a ball beneath his bed. He was crying hard, fat tears falling down his cheeks, and if his snotty face was anything to go by he’d been doing so since he’d run off to his bedroom.

It took a moment to shimmy her way under the bed to reach the little boy, but once she did, she immediately embraced the child and thankfully he made no attempt to fight her.

“Daddy’s gone to work, hasn’t he?”

JJ denied Jack’s quite clear accusation. “Daddy’s lying down in his room. He’s not feeling well.” JJ figured she may as well stick to the same story. After all, it’s not as though it was untrue.

Jack huffed in a way that was clearly intended to show JJ that he didn’t care, but she saw the little brow furrow.

After a short time, JJ managed to coax Jack out from under the bed and she sat with the little boy on her lap in the chair beside his bed.

“Can you tell me why you’re so sad, Jack?”

Her question prompted a fresh wave of tears and Jack clung to her for dear life. She rubbed his back, waiting until Jack could speak through his tears.

“Mommy.” He hiccupped, and JJ held him a little tighter. “Mommy’s gone Miss JJ. Mommy’s gone and she’s never coming back!”

JJ held him tighter still as he wailed, clearly heartbroken.

“Jack, who told you that?” JJ couldn’t help but notice that he had repeated exactly what Hotch had said in the hallway.

“Daddy.”

Jack sounded so much younger than his six years as he said that single word.

“He was mad.”

“He was?” Jack nodded against her chest.

“‘Cause I kept asking when Mommy was coming home. ‘Cause I didn’t understand. But I know now, Miss JJ.”

“Oh?” JJ was suddenly grateful that she’d trained interviewing children.

“Mommy’s dead and gone and she’s never coming back. She’s in a box under the ground.”

JJ felt a lump leap into her throat as Jack sobbed his way through his explanation.

Poor Jack.

Poor Aaron.

“Bad man George hurt my mommy. And now she’s never coming back.”

“I’m sorry, Jack.”

“‘Cause daddy didn’t catch him.”

JJ couldn’t allow the little boy to continue blaming his father. Jack needed to love the parent he had left. And for a moment JJ held Jack in silence as he sobbed, playing with a small section of the collar of her top.

“Jack,” She said after a moment. “Your daddy tried his very hardest to catch George.” She hated using the bastard’s name so casually but she had to make sure Jack understood. “He did everything he could to try and help your mommy and to make sure you stayed safe.”

“Didn’t work.”

JJ almost smiled at the attitude the little boy was exhibiting but she knew this was serious. She chewed her inner cheek for a moment as she thought about how she could explain the situation in a way a six year old would understand.

“Jack,” She waited until watery eyes met her own, “Have you ever needed to go to the potty so badly that you have to rush as fast as you can to get there? But no matter how fast you move and how hard you try to hold on you don’t quite make it?” She knew he had. He was a little boy after all; accidents were par for the course.

“You don’t get there in time.” Jack nodded. “At Kindergarten when I don’t want to stop playing.”

“That’s what it was like for daddy. He moved as fast as he can, he tried so hard to get to you and your mommy in time. But-,”

“Mommy was gone and never coming back.”

“Exactly, Jack. Daddy tried and tried but-,”

“But daddy couldn’t make it in time.”

JJ nodded. “But daddy caught George and now he can’t hurt anyone ever again.”

“Daddy tried to help mommy.” Jack spoke in a way that told JJ he saw his mother’s death in a new light.

“He did. He tried very hard.”

Jack sobbed anew. “Daddy tried to help mommy. And I’ve been very mean to daddy.”

“I know you have, Jack. But I also know your daddy loves you very much. And I know that if you say you’re sorry, daddy will forgive you.”

JJ gave Jack an extra moment or two to cry.

“Can you go to the bathroom and give your face a good wash, sweetheart? You’re all snotty.”

Jack gave a little giggle as JJ tickled his sides.

“Then play with your toys until I come and get you, okay, Jack?”

The little child nodded, accepted a hug from JJ and made his way to the bathroom to do as he’d been asked. And JJ used the time to check on her ex-boss.

She knocked lightly on Hotch’s door, not wanting to wake him if he’d fallen asleep, but heard him call for her to enter. He was curled up in a ball on his bed when she entered and she smiled fondly as she realised he and Jack had been laid in the exact same position.

“How are you feeling?” She asked as she crossed the room to the bed, taking a seat on the mattress beside him. Aaron shrugged which JJ took as a step up from ‘fine’. “I talked to Jack, Aaron. And I think he understands better now.”

Aaron nodded, still wordless.

“Has Jack ever seen you grieve Haley? Has he seen you cry?”

Hotch immediately shook his head. “I’m his dad, JJ. It’s my job to be strong and be there for him.”

JJ hummed in agreement. “It’s also your job to teach Jack that his emotions are normal. He needs to see that you’re sad, too. That you miss his mommy just like he does.”

Aaron responded with a noncommittal grunt.

“Wipe your face.” JJ ordered, patting Hotch’s thigh. “I’m going to go and get him. The two of your need to talk.”

“JJ, he’s six.”

“Yes. Old enough to have a conversation with his daddy. Wipe your face.” She repeated as she stood from the bed.

When she returned with Jack in her arms, Hotch was propped up against his pillows and accepted the little boy in his lap.

JJ promised she’d be in the living room if Hotch needed anything, and pulled the door closed behind her. As she left the room she heard Jack ask his daddy if he’d been crying, and found herself smiling softly in approval when she heard Hotch say “Yes, buddy. I’ve been crying.”

JJ used the time the pair spent together to give Hotch’s house a little once over with a duster and a damp cloth. And by the time Hotch exited the bedroom, looking emotionally spent and absolutely exhausted, she’d transformed the house. Jack’s toys had been collected and piled in a corner with his toy box, dirty dishes washed and put away.

“Hey,” JJ smiled as Hotch took a seat at the dining table, watching her as she wiped down the draining board and put the dishcloth back where she’d found it.

“You didn’t need to do that.” He looked around them. “Any of it. Believe me, JJ, you’ve done more than enough. I called you here to baby-sit, and you’ve done much more than I could have imagined.”

JJ smiled at him, reaching out to pat his forearm.

“Jack’s sleeping. He’s not been sleeping properly since Haley…” JJ squeezed his arm again and maintained contact this time.

“Have you?”

Hotch shook his head.

“Then go cuddle your son, and get some sleep. I’ll stay a little longer and sort out dinner. You don’t need to think about anything or anyone other than yourself and Jack.”

Expecting a fight from the stubborn man, JJ was pleasantly surprised when Hotch nodded, rising back up. JJ found herself embraced by Hotch and lightly patted his back.

“Sleep well.” JJ smiled at him. “I’ll see you in a little while.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.   
> I figured that JJ would be trained at interviewing children. Who better than to explain death to Jack in a way a six year old would understand? A six year old might not be able to understand how hard his dad worked to save his mom, but he’ll understand what it’s like to try very hard and still run out of time. Hence the toilet/potty analogy.   
> And I think Hotch’s emotions are often overlooked in the show, so I gave JJ the job of comforting him as well.   
> Please leave a review and let me know what you think :)   
> ibelieveinguardianangels


End file.
